Without Dragonballs
by GemKnight
Summary: 3-8 years after Goku left earth with Shenrong  Depending on if you follow the original timeline or Funimations timeline .  Pan meets a strange boy with tremendous powers; when she introduces them to the remaining Z fighters, an alien visitor is discoverd
1. Chapter 1

"Hey, Pan,"

Pan sighed and tried to ignore the boy she knew was going to try and ask her out yet again. He'd been asking her since shortly after her adventures in space a few years ago. It seems all that adventure was just the trigger she needed for Puberty, she'd grown two inches before that year had ended, and finally switched away from training bras, but if ever there was a reason to hate it, it was this boy, "What David," she snapped as she turned around to face him.

He put up his hands defensively, "Homeroom teacher wants you," he said with as much timidity as he could muster.

Pan moved pasted him toward Homeroom. When she opened the door to Homeroom there were two people in the room, the first was her Homeroom teacher who she'd expected, a grey haired old woman who'd taught since before her father Gohan had been here. But standing in front of her desk was a boy who had to be about the same age as her. He wasn't short, but he was just a touch below average height, which meant he was just a little taller than she was now. He had dark hair past his shoulders and a slightly familiar face.

"Hello Pan-chan," The teacher waved for her to come closer. As she did the teacher motioned toward the boy, "This is a new student, and I wanted you to show him around the campus. As I understand it, he lives almost as far away as you do," she chuckled. She turned to the boy next, "Jun, this is Son Pan, granddaughter of Mr. Satan. Pan-chan, this is Quartermaine Jun, he's just transferred to this school."

"Son?" the boy finally spoke, "Are you related to Son Goku?"

Something flickered in his eyes, they were dark with a sliver of blue around his pupils, but for a moment there was a shadow of red in them. But he blinked and it went away, making her wonder if she'd imagined it. "He was my grandfather."

Jun smiled, leaving Pan suddenly feeling self-conscious, though his smile came off as charming, it didn't seem aimed at her- or anyone in particular for that matter. "My father knew your grandfather, I'm sure he'd like to know how Son-San is doing."

"He moved on actually, a few years ago."

"He's dead?"

"Actually that's a long story, maybe I'll tell you, but not right now, come on," she turned toward the door and motioned for him to follow.

When they got out of the room Pan spoke again, "I never heard of a Quartermaine?"

Jun scoffed, "You wouldn't have, Dad made up that last name because he needed one for both of us when he started filling out forms- back when he took online college courses, and when he enrolled me here."

"Then who's your father?"

"Well- Seventeen."

Pan started, turning to face Jun in a fighting pose-

"Please, if I were gonna try to kill you I wouldn't have mentioned knowing Goku or being related to 17- not to mention I'd like to point out until Myu showed up, 17, his wife, and later myself, were perfectly content hiding in the middle of a forest, Dad got his kicks putting food on the table the old fashion way. And now he wants me to finish out in a real high school, get some social exposure and a real diploma."

Pan's fists were still clinched, trying to gauge his sincerity…

Jun stood there for a while just standing still with his arms crossed in silence, waiting for her to make a move. After a while he sighed and rolled his eyes, "Aren't you supposed to be showing me around."

Pan scrunched her face in annoyance. "Anyway," she said finally relaxing her posture, "Isn't your dad dead?"

"Technically, but he's around, I brought him back," Jun had a distant smile on his face. "I ripped my way through hell, and brought him back."

Pan paused, they were standing near the cafeteria, as it was morning it was closed, but there were windows through which you could see the staff preparing. "And you wonder why it's hard for me to believe you're not after me or my family…"

Jun scoffed, "Hey, my dad went nuts, but that was Myu's fault, Gero and Myu anyway, I didn't exactly find it pleasant to see my dad go all red eyed possessed and take off either, then when I finally figure out _some _of what happened, I find out my dad's dead, but hey- you guys only killed him cause Myu put him on a rampage, if it'd been me, I'd have had to find a way to put him down too."

"Like you could, you think you're strong enough." Pan put her nose in the air, but pointed out a couple more features of the school.

"Maybe," he said in that tone that implied a certain certainty.

"Well anyway, Grandpa's gone now; he left the Galaxy with Shenlong."

"With who?"

"The Eternal Dragon," she snapped and faced him again.

"Oh- The Dragonballs yeah I figured out those were gone too."

"You wanted to use them to bring back 17." She turned around, but kept her head facing him as she moved forward, using her senses she didn't need to look ahead to see if someone or thing was in front of her, but she wanted to keep an eye on Jun, she apparently still didn't know what to make of him.

"He's getting better you know, what Gero and Myu did, it really messed him up for a while, but he's getting better." That was the first ounce of vulnerability he'd shown yet. It was clear, whatever his motives, he obviously cared about his father, and that at least was something Pan decided she could sympathizes with.

"I have a training session 3 times weekly with Trunks, and sometimes Vegita- but he usually trains alone, would you like to join us?"

"Sure but I'll have to let Dad know I'll be home late." He scoffed, "Just you and Trunks huh?"

"Goten used to stop by every once and a while, but he was always late and never serious." She sighed, "And as I said, sometimes Vegita shows up but that's usually just to have us team up on him or to belittle Trunks' efforts," she frowned.

Meanwhile, in the outskirts of the Sol System, far out in the Ort cloud where the Earth-Vegita sub-system was still far enough away to be just a single dot reflecting Sol's light. A familiarly sized pod containing a single passenger speeds its way towards Earth.

Later on Earth, Pan shows Jun to a large chamber, Trunks looks over surprised to see someone other than Pan.

"Trunks-kun, this is Jun, he's apparently 17's son, I asked him to train with us," she motioned towards Jun.

"Pleased to meet you Trunks-san, how is you father?"

"Otousan is on Vegita, will be most of this month. He's overseeing the construction of the headquarters of new branch of Capsule Corp.," Trunks smirked, "I think he's come to think of it as his new personal Palace." He turned to Pan, "So what made you invite Jun?"

Pan shrugged, "Kind of a spur of the moment thing, when I first heard him say he was 17's son I thought he was gonna attack me right there, but as we were talking, I decided I could at least sympathize with him supporting his father no matter what had happened to him, and what he'd done."

"You make it sound like he rampaged across the earth, he just got his head all bothered by Gero and Myu and tried to kill Goku," he scoffed, "Not like nobodies' family here hasn't tried the same," he finished with a smirk.

The moment however was broken as a flash of chrome flew into Pan-

"Giru, Giru, Pan-chan, Giru missed Pan-chan at school today."

Pan hugged onto Giru then pushed him out enough that he decided just to circle her head again. "Yeah but Giru, you know what happens whenever you try to follow me to school, you make a lot of racket and distract everyone until the teachers start asking me to turn you off like you're some toy."

Jun looked towards Trunks hoping for an explanation of some sort. "What's that," he asked at last when no one seemed to notice his silent inquiry.

"Giru was actually built by Myu before he died and met Gero, we met him in the same adventure that introduced us to Dr. Myu, he actually built Giru to betray us, but once that programming ran it's course he'd really become our friend and did everything he could to help us. Up to and including betraying Dr. Myu himself." Trunks explained as he got to his feet and walked over to a console in the center of the room, "So Jun, have you ever trained in high gravity?"

"No actually, in fact I've never even been to Planet Vegita with its 10 times Earth Gravity. Bebi's lucky he didn't kill all the earthlings when he brought them there."

"But Goku brought the rest of earth's people there before the Earth blew up so he could bring Earth back?"

"I was dead by then, I didn't manage to break out of hell until right before that mass breakout, but I went back for my father and got out again before everyone got brought back after Goku asked for help with that last Genki Dama," as he explained he made a ripping motion with his hands and seemed to have a slightly possessed look. Once again his eyes flickered red. But he blinked and looked up at Pan and Trunks again as if he'd forgotten what he was talking about.

"Oh," Trunks sounded slightly impressed, "How did you get out of hell, I heard it took two people, one outside and one in, to create a gateway between Hell and here."

"Hmm, didn't know about that way, I just learned to manipulate the energies of Hell itself and tore it open, basically blasting my way through the hard way." He sighed.

Trunks' fingers still hovered over the gravity controls, "Whoa sounds like when I was fused with Goten, we had so much power we managed to just blast our way back to earth from a training dimension we'd be sealed into with the hope of trapping a monster with us." He sighed, "I still marvel at the power Goten and I had fused, and cringe at the childish attacks we made up, only today am I even close to the kind of power I had then, and I still can't reach SSj3."

Pan patted Trunks on the back reassuringly. "Don't worry; I've still never gone Super Saiya-jin."

"Yeah but in your case I wonder, Gohan had his aura completely restructured by the Elder Supreme Kai, he had to unlock Super Saiya-jin all over again, I wonder if that didn't have an effect on your ability to reach Super Saiya-jin." Trunks finally moved away from the controls though he hadn't set any commands yet, "I noticed, Goten had a much easier time going Super Saiya-jin than either Gohan or myself did, though of course I managed well enough thanks to those torture sessions Otousan called training, as soon as I could stand he had me in the Gravity Rooms, as soon as I could walk he taught me to fly." He sighed, but there wasn't any bite to it. "Anyway, remember Goku hadn't gone Super Saiya-jin himself when he had Gohan, but he had by the time he had Goten, and Vegita was close when he had me. But Gohan hadn't gotten Super Saiya-jin back by the time he and Videl had you. Never mind that Bra hasn't gone Super Saiya-jin either; she doesn't count because she's never tried."

"You think I'll never go Super Saiya-jin," Pan asked with a bit of surprise.

"I think it's possible that you might not, I could be wrong, a lot of things about Saiya-jins tend to be easier to disprove than to prove," he chuckled. "But either way, I wouldn't worry," he turned back to the computer, "you already have more power in your base form than I have in Super Saiya-jin, give it some time, and you'll match me in Ascended Super Saiya-jin too." He started typing, "Since Jun here has never experienced high gravity will start at ten and work his way up until he can train with us."

Jun scoffed, "Oh don't worry about me, set your gravity as you will and I'll adjust soon enough," his look offered little doubt in his sincerity.

"Don't be too sure," Pan began, "It's harder than it sounds."

Jun sighed in annoyance, "I really didn't want to have to explain it this way, but when I got to Hell and found my Dad, he was still a little loose in the head, and still merged with that copy of him, in fact he's still merged with that copy, but that's neither here nor there, the point is, I fought my dad in his fused form more than long enough to talk him down. I think if I can take that kind of beating and walk away with only a minor limp, I can take whatever you guys can- no offense intended- which is why I _didn't_ want to bring it up."

"How strong are you," Pan asked in mild bewilderment.

"I don't know actually, I try not to push myself to the limit, I black out when I do, then it's like someone else is in control."

Pan and Trunks exchanged glances, then turned back to Jun, "Someone else?"


	2. Chapter 2

Jun sighed again, shaking his head, "I should've just let you guys have your way," he muttered. "It's hard to explain, you know how most people claim to have a voice in their head that acts as a conscience- not a literal voice of course, just a general push, ya' know, the Id, Ego, and Superego stuff. I have a literal voice in my head, and he's a cold, ruthless, and calculating son of a bitch, and when I black out, he takes control," another sigh, "I don't tend to bring him up most of the time, because I keep him well bottled, except when I push myself too hard I don't have the strength left to fight him."

Pan gave knowing look, "Lemme guess, when he takes over, your eyes go red…"

"That and my power almost doubles."

Trunks shrugged, "Okay fine," he typed in a command to the machine, "We'll start at 200 and see how you feel, Pan here has gone up to almost 500 but hasn't mastered it yet, and I've only gone to 700 myself and have to go Ascended Super Saiya-jin for it, Otousan was at 350 before he went Super Saiya-jin, but now he maxes Okaasan's latest machines at 1000 and can almost do it without transforming, but this _is_ your first time, so we'll test it at 200 and see how you do, in an hour we'll decide where to go from there."

Jun shrugged, "I guess that's fine."

With a loud whirring noise the room got heavier. Trunks and Pan barely flinched from the transition, Jun went down to one knee at the last second, but let out a guttural sound and got back to his feet. "Okay, so if I want to go further than this I _will_ have to take it more serious," he said through a strained voice. He spread his legs and let out a roar of power unleashed. Pan and Trunks both gawked as he unleashed his power.

Not that they hadn't seen a more powerful force before, but because it seemed sudden, and because they only felt the effects of his power pushing out, not the actual energy coming off of the young man before them. In fact as he unleashed so much power he lifted himself off the ground, they still couldn't read an ounce of power radiating from his body. It was as though he were completely an Artificial Human and not just the child of one as he said.

Jun let out a long and slow breath and settled back on the ground, seemingly as unfazed as the two of them. "Now, I believe you mentioned Pan could withstand 500 Gs?"

Trunks opened his mouth like a fish, but before he could form coherent words there was a chirp and a screen lowered.

"Trunks-san," the voice said before the picture settled, revealing a normal enough human with brown hair and a suit. "Trunks-san," the voice began again, "Our long range space sensors are detecting an incoming unknown, Bulma-san told me to contact you or Vegita-san before I point the active scanners on it."

"Ah- thank you, I'll be up in a few minutes," he closed the communication link and turned back to Jun and Pan, "it looks like today's training will be all but canceled. If it's important I'll let you guys know what it is, if not, I'll see you Wednesday, you're free to come too," he added nodding at Jun. "I'll get you a guest pass on the way out." He hit a single button and the whirring noise that had become white noise in the background picked up briefly before dying down as the room lost its extra weight. Some of the metal objects in the room creaked as though a literal load were being taken off them, while everything else in the room under the gravity's effect was made of Capsule Corp. densest plastics.

After seeing Pan and Jun out, Trunks went straight to the space sensor lab. On one far screen was a live image of Vegita and Bulma on Planet Vegita, while all the other screens were live images from various telescopes both on the ground and in satellites in space.

A moment after the man who had contacted Trunks before acknowledged Trunks' entry, he spoke, "Activating active scanners."

Several of the screens in front of the man flickered and began displaying a series of numbers, another screen began displaying an image similar to what you would expect Radar to output, and lastly, a visual image came on screen displaying a small spherical pod that could only be big enough for one human sized passenger, and it had a large, tinted window in front.

"It looks like-" Bulma began.

"Yes, like one of the pods I used back when I worked for Freiza," Vegita finished.

"Is it heading for Earth- when will it get here?" Trunks moved to look over the man's shoulder as he began running calculations.

He looked up at Trunks, "It should arrive on Earth in 36 hours."

Vegita turned to Bulma on the screen, "Arrange a shuttle, I want to be there."

"Just in case, I'll call Gohan and Pan, as well as Goten. Also just today I met someone who might be able to help."

"Oh," Vegita's head snapped over to look at Trunks across the screen in a flash of sudden interest.

"Pan met him at her school, he invited him to train with us, he's descended from and has power like an Artificial Human, I don't know how strong he was for certain, but I suspect he's stronger than Pan, maybe even stronger than me, I can't say more than that for certain, we were interrupted by this. He claims to have been able to at least survive against Super 17's power."

Vegita flinched in shock. He hadn't been SSj4 at the time, but he had faced Super 17, to do as he claims, Vegita realized, would put him at at least the same power he'd had then. Slowly Vegita's look of shock curled into a smile of anticipation, "I look forward to meeting him," he said at last.

Trunks shivered as he read between the lines in his father's face, "I have his number, I got it when I got him a Visitor's Pass so he could come train with me and Pan in our sessions."

"Hmm," Vegita smiled, "I'll have a Shuttle bring me back to Earth, I should be there in less than three hours, tell this Andriod Spawn I'll see him anytime between now and our Alien visitor's arrival.

"Hai, Otousan." Trunks took that as his cue to leave. Heading back to the front desk he got the number Jun left.

Jun heard the phone and answered it by the second ring, "Moshi Moshi," he said noncommittally.

"Is this Jun?"

"Who's asking?"

"It's Breifs Trunks, we met earlier today via your classmate Pan."

"Ah, hai, I remember you. Did you need some additional information for the Visitor Pass, or is there some sort of emergency change in schedule?"

"Ah, well- two things came up actually, first, and slightly more urgent- though Otousan may disagree, a spaceship was detected entering our system. Its arrival is calculated as about 36 hours from now, a little before six o'clock the morning after next. We don't know its purpose so we're planning a reception of the best of us in case they're up to something; I wanted to invite you to that."

"M-hm," Jun seemed unfazed, cleaning out his other ear, "What was the other thing, the thing Vegita-san thinks is more important?"

"Uh," Trunks sighed, "He wants to meet you, I told him what little I know about you we I mentioned contacting others to prepare for the Visitor, he got excited and wants to- well- I'm sure he wants to fight you, see how strong you are…"

Jun didn't respond immediately. "Actually that works for me; I've got a few new techniques I haven't had the chance to properly test, I don't know for certain how strong Vegita-san is, but I imagine he's stronger than me, and that makes him the best person to test my techniques on."

Now it was Trunks turn to be shocked again, "How strong are you?"

"Like I told you before, I don't know, I've been so busy between school and helping Otousan get better I haven't really had a chance to test myself without risking losing control. But against Vegita even if I did lose control, even if I got stronger than him I shouldn't be so strong that he couldn't weaken my other side enough for me to regain control…"

Trunks was dead silent on the line, he hadn't been nearly as strong as his father since he was a child and could fuse with Goten to become SSj3 Gotenks. Now this Demi-Jinzo was talking casually about a power he hadn't been able to come close to. It really galled him, he wondered for a moment if this was how Otousan felt about Goku-san before he reached Super Saiya-jin…

The phone cracked in his grip, but he still maintained just enough control to keep from breaking it. "He says he'll be back on Earth in less than three hours, he's willing to see you any time between that and our Visitor's arrival time. You can meet me at that training room Pan brought you to and I'll tell him to meet us there."

Jun chuckled, catching the obvious second invitation, "I'll see you in an hour then."

The man at the counter beside Trunks flinched as the phone snapped in two in Trunks' hand, ending the call, but it wasn't anger in Trunks' face as he let go of the broken tool. His face was tense with a look that mirrored his fathers. The man at the counter sighed and reached into a drawer, pulling out a replacement phone while casually filling out a small accident report form.

Trunks wasn't the proud warrior his father was, but it both galled him and excited him to have an opponent come from seemingly nowhere that was more than a match for him. He chuckled slightly, and then turned to the man at the desk, "Sorry about the phone, but I need to make another call."

"Happens all the time with your father…" He finished connecting the new phone and handed the receiver to Trunks.

Trunks nodded and thanked him, then dialed another number-

"Son Residence, Gohan speaking," was the cordial answer.

"Son-kun, it's Trunks, I wanted to inform you and Pan-ch- -san- that there's an incoming unidentified alien that should be arriving in a day in a half, I wanted to get everybody ready in case of the worst. You don't happen to know if Goten is home, I hate playing phone-tag with him whenever I need to reach him."

Gohan chuckled at that last part, "Well speaking of Goten I think the lazy bum is still asleep, I know he has classes in another hour, assuming he goes. As for the Alien, I'll pass the message and make sure Pan-chan and I am ready when the Alien gets here. Do you have its exact trajectory and landing site calculated yet?"

As any good Capsule Employee learns quickly, having answers before the question is asked is lifesaving skill, given the legendary temperaments of some of the executives. No sooner had Trunks turned to the man at the desk when he held up a printout and handed it to him. Trunks read off the approximate landing zone and a good, wide-open space for them to wait and be able to observe the landing.

"Okay," Gohan smirked, "We'll be there, then maybe some other time you can stop by for dinner and we can discuss all the time you and Pan-chan are spending together," he said in a teasing tone, "Maybe we can figure out exactly what your intentions are…"

Trunks blushed, "It's really nothing- honest, we spent all that time together on the ship and-"

"I'm teasing Trunks-san, I'd be more worried about Giru if he wasn't just a ball with limbs," Gohan said between laughing fits so hard he grabbed his gut. He sighed as he finally caught his breath, "I worry, that's all, she's becoming a young woman and her only friends are a man ten years her senior, and a robot built by a man who tried to kill her."

"There may be another person on that list soon, but he'd also just be a friend, I don't see any sparks between them at least, but just today she met a boy who strong enough to catch Otousan's attention, in fact I'm introducing the two of them this evening."

"Really," Gohan's voice dripped with prying tones.

"He says he's 17's son, and he survived against his father fused with the Hell 17. Says he's working on rehabilitating his father since Myu's programming messed with his head," Trunks explained.

"Super 17 is alive; I thought 18 and Otousan killed him?"

"They did, this boy says he found his own way to tear through dimensions like me and Goten did as Gotenks."

"He rescued his father from Hell?" Gohan had to hold the phone away for a moment as he gawked in shock.

"That's when he says he faced him."

"Well, I wanna know more, but you need to call Goten before he leaves for class, and I'll see him for myself when the Alien arrives." Gohan said, excusing himself, "It was nice to hear from you Trunks, and you really should stop by for Dinner sometime, we'll prepare a special gohan for you."

"Hai, maybe after we settle this matter of the Alien," Trunks smiled, "See you Son-san."

Trunks hung up and dialed again-

"Moshi Moshi! This is Goten's Answering Machine, he's sure sorry he missed you, but leave a message and your number after the beep and we'll call you right back."

Trunks gave a confused glance into the phone before he heard the Beep. "Goten, it's Trunks, it's urgent-"

He hadn't gotten any further when there was a clattering noise on the other end- "Trunks! How's it been? Sorry about the answering machine but I've got Ex-girlfriend problems again, you almost missed me anyway though. I was getting ready to go, I just got out of the shower and hadn't even gotten dressed yet."

Trunks told Goten about the incoming ship, then a little about Jun, up to the part about him being 17's son.

"Seventeen had a kid," he said in an amused tone. "Is he anything like Marron?"

"No he can actually fight," Trunks chuckled. "And his Ki is undetectable like the full Jinzo-Ningen were."

"Ah," Goten nodded even though Trunks couldn't see the motion, "Anyway, I'll try to make the meet with the Alien, but I dunno how my schedule's gonna turn out, I don't have any classes before then, but ya see there's this girl I've been working up to asking out, she's really cute and she smiled whenever I look at her, so I totally think she's just waiting for me to make a move."

Trunks sighed in annoyance and put his other hand to his forehead as if to rub away an imaginary throb. "Goten, we don't know anything about the incoming ship, we _think_ it's a single passenger but frankly we don't even know that for sure, maybe it's nothing but maybe it's something that could destroy the planet."

"Mah mah, I'm sure it'll be fine, and if it does turn out you need me, I'll have my cellphone on, just give me a call and I can fly right over. Don't worry Trunks."

Goten hung up after that, leaving Trunks decidedly annoyed. He slammed the phone down but was careful not to break this one. "Sukebe… Baka…"

He scowled. After a moment he scoffed, then headed out front to wait for Jun. He scanned the sky frequently, given that he wouldn't be able to sense him coming.

Opening his senses to the fullest, he eventually heard Jun coming; the sounds of him flying through the air at speeds that parted the wind around him left a distinct whistling sound as well as the louder sonic boom behind him which he heard the second Jun stopped overhead.

Jun spotted Trunks just even quicker, locking on his Ki. He lowered himself from directly overhead until he stopped, floating just in front of Trunks. "Yo, Trunks-san."


	3. Chapter 3

"I'm sure it's not your intention, but I really appreciate the warm-up this'll give me, I'll need every edge against Vegita," Jun said as he stretched out his arms and back. "He may just think of this as a friendly exercise but for that Bakayaro all that means is he'll try to remember to stop short of killing me," he scoffed and reached for his toes. "Say, could ya' do me a favor and turn on that gravity thing again, it'll make this harder on both of us equally."

Trunks snorted in amusement, both at his request and his disturbingly accurate assessment of Vegita. "How do you know so much about us?"

"Otousan took some online courses in computers and engineering, in order to properly learn, he salvaged some gear from one of Gero's labs that you guys destroyed, he even salvaged most of one of the backup databases. It doesn't have any information past you going to Namek, but it has quite a bit about each of you, and I've managed to fill in quite a bit about the rest from the rather slanted and limited public knowledge."

Trunks both smirked and scoffed. "I see."

"Like the Cell Games, even though I wasn't born then, I've seen Mr. Satan and I'm not fool enough to believe he killed Cell."

Trunks nodded, "It was Son Gohan, Goku trained him to be stronger than himself, though in the intervening years Gohan's studies have impacted his training." Trunks went over to the machine, "I'm going to put in 500 Gs, like you suggested before we were cut off, is that alright?"

Jun nodded, "Once we begin I don't want you holding back, I don't care if you _do_ turn out to be stronger, I'll let you know when I've had enough." Trunks nodded in return then punched in the commands, and the two of them stood, waiting for the machine to hit its target. Once it did, as one, the two of them unleashed their power.

Trunks instantly went Super Saiya-jin, and only took a moment to cross into Ascended form. A few moments later, and they both stopped, pausing only long enough to check that the other was done before rushing in. For the moment both were only holding back so much as to retain enough awareness to gauge the others style. Trunks was shocked at how much faster Jun was, it was taking most of his strength just to defend his critical areas. Already he was taking blows, avoiding feints, dodging one swing to receive the backswing. He barely noticed when Jun powered up a small red Ki ball. Trunks moved to bat it aside, flinging himself back with the motion.

Jun stopped as well, and when Trunks looked down at the hand he had defended with it was smoking and raw. Jun smirked, "That's the power of Hell," he formed two more similar Ki balls, one in each hand, he threw them out towards Trunks- but with a motion of his arms- they both stopped short and swerved to each side. Trunks turned and blasted one of the two balls, easily overpowering it; they were scorching hot, but barely a flicker of power. As he did, the other one slammed into his back. In the same moment Jun fired a red burst, almost as hot, but a lot more powerful.

Between the high gravity and the intensity of the battle, that blast was enough that after he hit the back wall, before he fell to his knees on the ground, he lost his Super Saiya-jin 2 transformation and his hair fell.

He stood up and summoned his strength again, more slowly recalling SSj2 again. He screamed again, calling the depths of his power. As he did a screen lowered in the corner-

"Trunks, what are you doing, I challenged him already?"

Trunks couldn't even hear him over his roar.

"Trunks! Open the door-" he stopped and gasped as he felt it before Trunks even realized it. Trunks' hair began pushing down- down towards his thighs, the brow of his forehead pushed out, and at last small bolts of lightning jumped from point to point all over his body.

"Trunks," Vegita sounded shocked over the screen, "You did it- you reached Super Saiya-jin 3."

Unfortunately the moment he lost focus- the power requirements to maintain SSj3 overtook him and he fell back to his knees and dropped back to his base form, panting. Jun walked over to the main computer and pushed the same button Trunks had when he ended their session the last time. The gravity slowly faded, and once it did, Vegita opened the door.

"It was very good that you reached Super Saiya-jin three, but it's no surprise you weren't ready to hold it yet, not at high gravity while fighting an opponent with enough power to warrant the change in the first place," he smiled, he was proud, Trunks might actually catch up to him again by the time he was ready for it. When the Future version of him had come back to the past he was still young, and not ready for anyone to be more than marginally stronger than him, in his mind only Freiza held that place, as the man who destroyed his race and subjugated him for the bulk of his childhood and into his adulthood. Now he was getting older, and was starting to worry this Trunks wouldn't catch him by the time he was actually ready for it.

Vegita walked over and held out an arm towards Trunks. Trunks looked up, surprised by the motion, "Come Trunks, your fight is over, now it's my turn," that expression Trunks was more familiar with, but still, his father seemed happier than he was used to. He took his father's hand, and Vegita helped him to his feet. Vegita helped him toward the door, though he stayed inside while Trunks stepped out.

Once the door was shut Vegita turned towards Jun, "I won't have you holding anything back, you hear," Vegita said as he took a fighting stance.

"As I expected, don't worry, I'll give it my all, and I'll let you know if I've had enough."

Vegita nodded, he took in a breath and before he even released it into a roar he crossed into SSj4. The sheer magnitude of Vegita's power pushed back at Jun.

Jun took a fighting stance opposite Vegita, "I hope you don't mind being a guinea pig for me, Trunks there was only the second fight I've ever been in, and I didn't want to risk testing my two newest techniques on him, one or both of us could have lost an arm," he smirked.

"Oh?" Vegita raised an arm and began powering a blast into one hand.

Jun tensed, he wasn't sure he was ready, but now Vegita had locked him into it. He closed both hands into fists, only opening them once two tiny blue Ki balls existed in both palms. As he held them out they began to spiral like miniature galaxies, the ends of which fed back into his palms. As Vegita unleashed the blast Jun interposed his hands in front of him.

The blast washed against Jun's outstretched hands, and slowly began to swirl into the two blue pools Jun had formed. As it did, Jun became larger- first his biceps, a moment later his chest began to swell, and lastly the energy reached his legs. His body pulsed and swelled, each moment taking in the energy from Vegita's attack. Jun winced and let out a grunt before reaching back and swatting the rest of the attack aside and landing on one knee with a loud groan.

"Hmphf, as expected from 17's Son," he chuckled, "But apparently I was a little too much for you to swallow eh?"

"Well as I said, I've never done that before. And I'm still young, I'm sure as I get older I'll be able to absorb much more," he said between pants. Already his swollen muscles were beginning to retract to their original size. He got up to his feet. "As it is for now I only have enough control in my hands to create the pools." He closed his fists and tightened them. "The advantage of youth is I still have plenty of time to enhance my strength and control."

"Indeed, as a child I always knew I hadn't begun to reach the depths of what I would, but even then I couldn't begin to grasp the power I have now. Have you recovered yet?"

Jun just nodded. The next moment both Vegita and Jun closed to melee. Jun was used to speed being his edge, but he found Vegita matched him, maybe surpassed him- but more to the point, his strength was overwhelming. In every exchange Jun managed to avoid or parry Vegita's attack, but the force of the blow was enough to push him back just enough that on the return swing he was further back, giving Vegita ample time to retort. They were around the same height, so neither had additional leverage in reach. Jun now found himself in a position not unlike Trunks, except while Trunks couldn't move fast enough to block every strike, Jun could, but he was still taking slow but steady damage.

Jun caught one of Vegita's strikes in hand, which on the surface seemed like a mistake as now Vegita could implement his superior strength and push Jun back against the wall. In Jun's other hand he formed the same small red ball and jammed it at Vegita's abdomen. Given the minimal distance between them Vegita was barely able to see it, let alone defend. The burst was small, but the heat was extreme and given the suddenness even the small burst was enough to knock Vegita back. Vegita grasped the burnt flesh, the ball having burnt a hole through his shirt in an instant.

While Vegita was away, Jun put his palms together, as he pulled them apart a golden spiral connected them, and a resounding howled echoed off from it. As he separated his hands a golden miniature tornado remained in one hand. He thrust his hand out and the attack funneled out at Vegita, rushing past his head.

Vegita quirked an eyebrow, "You missed?"

Jun smirked. The howling noise got louder, Vegita turned around in time to see the golden funnel coming back at him even larger. The blast overtook him. But as the smoke cleared he seemed barely scuffed.

Jun quickly formed two more red balls of Ki and launched them out. As Vegita moved to deflect them Jun motioned with his arms, and they both stopped and turned. Unlike Trunks however, Vegita simply reached one hand out towards each of them, and blasted them away.

Jun stood up straight and draped his arms in a more relaxed posture. "I've got plenty more energy, but not as much as you, we should save the rest for the Visitor. Besides, I'm out of tricks for now," he mused.

Vegita straightened out as well, but frowned. "Maybe next time you'll actually go all out then," he spat to the side.

"I really was-"

"Bullshit! I could tell! You were holding back!" Vegita accused.

"What you felt isn't mine," Jun looked back, now he looked upset as well. "I have a strength I can't control, call it a prisoner I share my body with, what you saw was him trying to break free, not any strength I was holding back," his eyes flickered red as he looked down.

Vegita crossed his arms and huffed. "Andriod filth…"

Jun snorted, "If you're so desperate, when the situation is over, I'll let the bastard out of his cage for you. Until then, I'd like to be the one in control."

"Is he stronger? Your other half?"

Jun sighed and looked away, "I think so, he should have most of my strength and all of his own- so I imagine so…"

Vegita scoffed, "Make sure you show me when this is over, with the Visitor…" Only then did he finally drop back to his base form.

"And you make sure I don't escape before I regain control," Jun crossed his arms.

"You're telling me your other half is a coward?"

"Hardly, he just may see this instead as an opportunity to seize control and implement his own plans until I can reassert myself." Jun growled, "Last time he did that I died and had to break my way out of Hell… I think he might have thought us dying would separate us… I wish he'd been right."

"But then you might have only come back half as strong, you said he has access to some of your power, how much access do you have of his? Besides, perhaps one day you'll have completely suppressed him, or even ejected him without losing his strength, as you said yourself, you're still young and many things can happen," Vegita offered as he left the training room.

"If you don't mind I'm gonna stay in here for a while," Jun called back.

"Knock yourself out," Vegita shut the door behind him.

Vegita headed to the cafeteria, he wasn't surprised to see Trunks there eating, what he was surprised to see was Trunks was back in SSj3. Vegita got himself as much food as he could fit in his arms and sat across from Trunks. Vegita hid a smirk when Trunks accidentally crushed the can he was sipping from, blowing the contents all over his face and out behind him.

"You're going to drain yourself like that if you keep in that form," Vegita advised.

"Maybe, I just," Trunks sat back down with a towel to wipe off his face and a new can of soda. "I just remember, hearing about the days before Cell's game. Gohan and Goku stayed in Super Saiya-jin form beforehand in order to build up stamina in the form and become acclimatized to it. I want to stay in this form as long as I can."

Vegita nodded, "I understand, but that form is less efficient than the form above it or below. It may have a long term impact if you stay in if for prolonged periods."

"I'm willing to take that risk Otousan-" Trunks grimaced as he looked at the fork he'd just bitten through…

This time Vegita couldn't hide his smirk because he'd drawn attention to it with his short laugh.

Trunks started to glare, but quickly looked down. He grabbed a pair of chopsticks and resorted to pushing and shoveling the food into his mouth.

"Jun is training himself in the Gravity Room," Vegita said, returning to seriousness.

"How did your fight go," Trunks asked through a half-full mouth.

"He stopped the fight after he finally landed his only solid blow and declared that he'd run out of tricks, I suspect he's in there making up some new ones as we speak," Vegita smirked again and picked up the pace on his own meal.


	4. Chapter 4

Jun turned to face the knock on the Gravity Room's door. He was drenched in sweat and his hair kept sticking to his face. The screen lowered behind Jun as he faced the door, he heard Pan's voice come from the screen behind him.

"You weren't in school at all today, have you been in there all night?" Pan put her hands at her hips looking only slightly cross.

Jun let his breath come out in large, heaving gasps, between them he spoke. "I've been in three fights my whole life Pan-… the first one, I talked my father down, and he backed off." He tried to pace his breathing. "The second, my opponent ran out of strength." He wiped his forehead, which only spread the sweat and smeared his hair. "The third, I backed down because I'd already used every technique I've come up with in a matter of minutes because my opponent was so much superior to me."

"So," Pan asked, not understanding where he was going with his thoughts.

Jun walked over to the computer and turned off the gravity. "That alien could be another creature like Bebi, but even if it's something pathetic and not out to kill us, any day now, Gero or Myu could find another way out of hell, or a new alien race from another planet, another galaxy, or even another dimension could appear, I'm one of the handful of people on the planet with the potential to handle whatever may come, and I've never even scratched that potential."

The door opened and Pan took a step back-

"Something's different?"

Jun looked down at himself, lifting his arms as he did- suddenly he wrinkled his nose, "I stink, that's what's different, I'm gonna go shower and catch some sleep for tomorrow."

"It's not that," Pan said as she furrowed her brow trying to identify it. Her eyes widened when she realized it. "Your Ki, I sense it?"

Jun looked down at himself again. "Oh that, it's just- my Demi-herritage enhances what I have astronomically- but as a human what I have _was_ insignificant, I guess that changed now," he chuckled and put a hand behind his head.

"About that," Pan tilted her head, "It didn't bother me at first that you were stronger than me, but I thought about it overnight, Trunks himself said I'm about as strong as he is in Super Saiya-jin, and 17 wasn't even any stronger than Vegita and Goku were in Super Saiya-jin after they trained to the cusp of Super Saiya-jin 2. Why are you stronger than Trunks was in Super Saiya-jin 2, when he just now got strong enough to reach Super Saiya-jin 3?"

Jun scoffed, "Gero tampered with 17 time and again, it's part of why 17 grew to hate Gero so much." Jun shook his head, "I think 17 was Gero's favorite for a while at least, that's why he built that Hell Version of him, specially constructed to line up with all 17's incomplete parts and make him strong enough to fight an SSj4." Jun sighed, "My best guess, some of those parts completed themselves in me." Jun put his hand over his heart, "Right next to my heart, I have a smaller organ, it seems to help my heart take some of the extra strain when I cut loose- at least that's the best guess of the only Doctor I ever saw." He moved his hand over towards one of his kidneys, "I have another organ here- nobody can even guess what it's for." Jun moved his hands away, "I've looked over several versions of 17's schematics over the different incarnations and upgrades, all I can tell, is for all his evil, Dr. Gero was brilliant, and willing to experiment to get results. Parts that he listed only some of their functions, and that they were still incomplete- parts that he completed when he merged 17 with the Hell version of 17. I have dozens of organs inside me that correspond to parts he added to 17 over the years before 17 killed him. Any number of them could account for my power, or any combination. Any one of them could be the host of my unwelcome Not-So-Better-Half." He scowled now, looking downcast.

"But- why would you be born with any of that?"

"Gero used a human-base- but only the first few Jinzo Ningen were robotic- or rather, cybernetic, ignoring of course the non-human based 16. That's why Cell could gain power from absorbing them, because everything about them, natural or not, was organic, and in order to make sure the body didn't reject the changes, he had to rework the body at the genetic level every time he upgraded them, which is why he had to knock them out with that shutdown command."

Pan opened her mouth and Jun put a finger over it- "I don't have all the answers. I don't know exactly what I am, I just am… Seventeen was more modified than any other Jinzo Ningen that made for a barely stable DNA that he passed to me. Plus- I haven't mentioned this but my mother's a Demi-Jinzo too: Eight had a daughter, my mother. So I'm only 1/4th pure, unaltered human- give or take what with the nature of inherited genes."

Pan stepped back and away from Jun's hand and frowned.

"What- you expect to get _all_ the answers up front, I told you- _I_ don't even have all the answers," he pointed his hands at his chest. "Ja'ne, Pan-san, I've got to get home, shower, and rest up for tomorrow…" He waved goodbye as he levitated upwards before flying off.

Pan turned when she heard footsteps behind her.

"So, he left already," Vegita walked over with his arms crossed, "I guess I'll use the Gravity room the rest of the day, oh, and Pan, I'd be careful around Trunks today, he's having trouble monitoring his strength, he tried to sleep in SSj3 and destroyed not just his bed, but most of his bedroom." Vegita smirked, "And that was just from snoring," he laughed uproariously as he stepped into the gravity room and closed it behind him.

"Tried?" Pan looked at the shut door with a confused expression.

Pan went over to the front desk, "Can you page Trunks for me," she showed him her visitor pass.

"I dunno that he'll respond, but I can send the message," even the desk clerk seemed to be in on whatever it was Vegita found so humor, though he wasn't as blatant about, his smirk was a lot more subtle.

"He should already know I'm here, just sending the page so it alerts him should be sufficient," Pan said with a hint of annoyance in her voice. "Of course you could tell me what's so funny also."

The clerk shrugged, "I guess it's not that funny, but Trunks-san has been breaking things with alarming consistency since he started spending time in that newest form he acquired."

"New form?"

"Yeah, like his other super forms, but this one has hair that would scare a punk rocker," he chuckled for a moment, then coughed as if to cover and instantly went back to full seriousness.

A moment later Pan felt Trunks approaching. She looked up a flight of stairs in time to see him-

"Pan," he smiled at first then winced and choked. He clutched his chest, both dropping from Super Saiya-jin 3 and consciousness, tumbling down the stairs, leaving a mess of broken wood, metal, and plastic from each impact.

"TRUNKS!" Pan rushed to catch him, saving at least the bottom half of the stairs in the process.

The man at the desk looked over through the corner of one eye then typed a line of command into his terminal, and a blue light flashed and an alarm sounded in the room.

The first thing to happen less than a minute later was a trio of medics coming through the front door. Pan was shocked, but still smart enough to back away. The Paramedics began their usual process, checking vitals, one of the three asking Pan basic questions, after a moment they lifted him onto a stretcher and headed out the door.

It was only after that the door of the Gravity Room blasted outwards and Vegita rushed out, "Trunks!" He saw Pan first, and the leaving Paramedics second, he rushed over to Pan, "What happened to Trunks?"

"I'm not sure, he was coming down to meet me when he suddenly passed out and fell down the stairs?" Pan was verging on panic, but just barely maintaining control and composure.

"Kuso! Dammit I warned him there could be trouble staying Super Saiya-jin 3 for prolonged periods…"

It was just over two hours later when Bulma walked into Trunks' room in the hospital. She glanced from Trunks, unconscious on the bed, to Pan, sitting closest to him, and lastly to Vegita, who had his arms crossed watching Trunks' vitals on the display by the bed.

"I was just talking to the doctors. They say he could wake up in as soon an hour, or years. Their best guess is he had some kind of prolonged heart attack, his body rejecting the stress Super Saiya-jin 3 was putting on him. They suspect if he hadn't been half-Saiya-jin he would be dead by now." Her voice was clinical, but her body was shaking, and tears were welling up in her eyes. She wiped her eyes, then looked to Pan, "I'd tell you to go home, since there isn't anything you can do, but I don't expect you'd listen, you should at least call your father and let him know where you are," she sniffled but tried to put on a bold face.

'Hai," Pan nodded, she walked over to the door, stopping as she passed Bulma and turning back to Trunks. She stared for a long moment, and as she did, Bulma sat down in the chair she had been in. Pan forced herself to look away and left the room.

Once she was in the common room she pulled out her cellphone and called home.

"Daddy it's me, Pan," she began before Gohan could speak.

Gohan made a noncommittal sound of acknowledgement, waiting for Pan to continue.

"I'm sorry I haven't come home yet, first I went to go see why my classmate had skipped school, but while I was there, Trunks ended up in the hospital, so I'm there now."

Gohan gasped, "What happened to Trunks? Did the Alien arrive early?"

"No Daddy," she assured him, tensing before she continued, "He did this to himself; he was trying to normalize his body to- well- to Super Saiya-jin Three."

Gohan gasped again, as Pan expected. "Trunks achieved Super Saiya-jin Three?" Gohan pushed down his shock, "Still, that was very dangerous of him, Super Saiya-jin Three is far more demanding on the body than any other Super Saiya-jin form, including Super Saiya-jin Four." Gohan sighed, "I remember- I remember even Otousan was unable to hold SSj3 for long periods while alive, especially when he became a child again. Anyway Pan-chan, how bad is Trunks?"

"He's still unconscious, the doctors aren't sure when he'll get better, but they are at least confident he will."

"Hmm," Gohan paused in thought, "I have an idea, but I don't know if it will help so don't get your hopes up. I'm gonna go check something out and then stop by to visit Trunks, I'll probably be there late this evening, then we can go home together cause you still need to rest for tomorrow."

"But Tousan," she started to protest.

"Don't argue," his tone brokered authority without being harsh, "Trunks would want you strong in case there's a battle tomorrow, especially if he can't make it."

"Hai, see you when you get here," she said in that typical 'defeated child' tone, after that she hung up.

Gohan put down the phone. "Videl, I'll be going out in a minute!" he called out across the house. He then picked up the phone again, "Don't know why I'm bothering" he muttered as he dialed the number.

"Moshi Moshi, you've reached Goten's voice mail, please leave a message and I'll reply when I can."

"Goten-kun, I was going to be in the city in a couple hours, I don't know if you heard about Trunks or not. I was thinking it's been a while since we've been together, and you could fly home with Pan and I for dinner, plus we always have a spare bed for you, and then we could all go to the alien landing site tomorrow." Gohan hung up and sighed, not even knowing if Goten would get the message before he got there…


	5. Chapter 5

"Thank you, Korin-sama, Yajurobi-san," Gohan waved as he flew off again. Now he was heading toward Satan City. Just after he crossed the city limits, he felt a pleasant surprise flying towards him. "Goten!" He smiled and chuckled briefly, the two met in mid-air and hugged.

"I didn't actually get your message until after I felt you flying this way," Goten admitted with a short laugh and a hand behind his head. "So what's happening to Trunks, you said something about it in the voicemail?"

"Ah," Gohan nodded, "Pan says he managed to put himself in the hospital, but he also reached SSj3…"

Goten froze and gawked. "Trunks did?" Goten pressed his lips just shy of a snarl, "He finally did it, huh, he finally got to the kind of power we had as Gotenks…" He closed his fists. "And all I can do is just barely manage Super Saiya-jin 2…"

Goten scoffed, "Mah-neh, I never thought I'd be fighting again, but with Vegita-san as a father, that wouldn't have been an option I guess." He laughed it off, but it seemed to bother him in ways he wouldn't say.

Goten sighed, "Still, Trunks should have known to be careful, I remember SSj3 was so intense, our powers ran out before the 30 minute Fusion should have ended. It's no wonder Trunks managed to hurt himself with that power…" He tightened his fists even further, shaking visibly. "Let's go see him."

"Mm," Gohan nodded, "that's the plan, Pan is there now."

Gohan and Goten got to the hospital, as they entered everyone looked up.

"Gohan, Goten, You've both gotten weaker since we last met," Vegita sneered.

"Vegita!" Bulma scolded.

Gohan raised a hand, "No, he's right, neither of us has kept up our training; we were foolish enough to believe this peace would be lasting…" Gohan walked over to Trunks' bedside. "That's okay for now, we'll make do with what we have as we always have, in the meanwhile, I brought these," He smiled and he reached for a brown cloth bag he'd tucked in his shirt.

"Ah, Senzu," Bulma realized.

Gohan didn't bother to reply this time, he dug his fingers into the bag and lifted out a Senzu between two fingers. He gently slid it into Trunks' mouth and closed Trunks' jaw around it.

It was a long and slow moment later Trunks drew a loud and rasping breath. He coughed, and weakly opened his eyes. He had a puzzled look on his face as he tilted his head to each side to see around him. "G-g- Gohan- san?"

He tried to lift himself up, but let out a sound of pain and fell back into the bed.

"I've never seen an injury a Senzu couldn't heal," Gohan sounded shocked.

"It must be that his heart is still weak," Pan spoke up.

"His heart," Goten tried to figure out what she meant.

"Bulma-san said the doctor's think he had a heart attack, from the strain of prolonged use of SSj3."

"Prolonged," both Goten and Gohan gasped.

"You were right Otousan," Trunks said weakly on the bed, "Maybe it was a bad idea…" He even managed a weak smile.

Vegita managed to utter a small and short laugh at what his son meant in humor, but it was weak and half-hearted.

"Bulma-san," Pan spoke up again, "Jun told me that the Androids have something that helps take the strain off their heart when they get really worked up, do you think you could make Trunks-k-…-san something like that?"

"I- I dunno, I'd have to look at the old plans we had for 17 first, if it's there maybe I could make something similar?"

"Kaa-san," Trunks opened his mouth, "I don't want to be a Jinzo-Ningen…"

"You wouldn't be!" Pan cut in, "The Jinzo-Ningen, their whole bodies are rebuilt down to the DNA; Bulma would just be making some kind of tool that would help your heart recover faster…"

Trunks faded out of consciousness before he could muster any kind of response.

"Vegita," Bulma snapped, "Get me back to headquarters, fast!"

Vegita looked ready to retort, but before he'd even finished standing up his posture changed, and then he nodded. He put an arm at Bulma's waist then jumped backwards through the window so as to shield her from the broken glass. The next moment they took off.

"Pan," Gohan turned to face her, "I know you want to stay, but if the situation changes I'm sure we'll be told quickly. It's time to go."

"Otousan-"

"I'll stay Pan-chan," Goten announced, walking over and sitting in the chair Vegita had been in a moment before, "get some sleep, Trunks would want it that way."

Goten sat back and got comfortable in the chair, "I've got my phone on me so I can let you know as soon as anything happens."

Pan nodded, "Arigato, uncle."

"Let's go Pan, before your mother gets worried…"

The next morning everyone was up before the sun, with just under three hours until the arrival of the incoming alien ship…

"Otousan, I'll meet you on sight about 15 minutes before, but I want to check in Trunks before the alien gets here…"

Gohan frowned, but nodded in acceptance, "Don't be late."

They flew off in only slightly different directions. When Gohan got to the site Trunks had specified, he found Vegita already waiting. Vegita glanced at him only briefly before turning away. They both turned a moment later to face another incoming person.

Gohan waved and started to open his mouth, but before he got the words out Vegita was flying over to Jun, "Bulma wanted to know if either you or your father could send her a copy of the database you salvaged from Gero, she's trying to make a temporary mechanical devise that will take the stress of Trunks' heart long enough for it to recover."

"Recover," Jun looked confused, but quickly shook it off, "Something happened to Trunks' heart?" He shook his head, "Nevermind, tell me later, call Bulma, I'll call home, between the two calls we should be able to work something out."

Vegita nodded and reached through the neck into his fighting outfit, which Bulma had constructed like many others to look like the fighting suits used by the Planet Trade Organization Freiza used to run. His hand returned with a small but sturdy looking Cellphone. Both Jun and Vegita dialed.

"Hi, Okaasan, start Dad's computer up, I need you to do something." He put a hand over the speaker, "This may go faster if I talk to Bulma."

Vegita rolled his eyes, but handed the phone over. Jun shuffled between the phones giving step by step directions to his mother, and asking for connection information from Bulma, within a matter of a few minutes, he talked them both through establishing a direct link between their networks, which allowed Bulma to take over and access the information she wanted. He gave Vegita's phone back to him and then turned to Gohan, "Ohaiyo Son-san," he gave a small bow.

Gohan returned the bow, "Ohaiyo Gozaimasu, you must be Jun, Pan told me a little about you."

Jun smiled briefly and put a finger under his nose as if wiping it, "Mah, it's not like she knows all that much, key stuff, who my parents are, that I'm Demi-Jinzo, a couple other stray facts here and there."

"And that you escaped from Hell," Gohan pointed out. "Which tells me you went there," Gohan snorted in amusement. "A bit of a rowdy childhood?"

"Mah, neh," he said in an amused tone, with an expression of nostalgia.

That wasn't an answer, let alone one Gohan wanted to hear. Gohan scowled, "You're not gonna tell me?"

"My past is just that," Jun said flatly. "If something comes up that I need to tell you more, I will, barring that, it's no business of yours," he crossed his arms, expressing the finality of his statement.

Gohan frowned, wanting to press but recognizing that he wasn't going to get more information the direct way now.

"I can feel the Ki approaching now," Jun pointed out, "It doesn't feel like much, but then- neither do I," he chuckled.

A short while later Gohan sensed the approach of Goten and Pan. As they came into view Gohan waved to them. They all found places to sit and wait as the first light of a shooting star came down towards them. Given its speed and close proximity, once they saw it it was only moments before the thing came thundering down.

In the last moment it decelerated only a little before touching ground. Like before they could see it was shaped identical to the pods Vegita had used in Freiza's service. A one man spherical, white pod with a single large door and a single tinted window, this one was tinted blue. On one side of the pod there was even the same emblem of The Planet Trade Organization. From this distance they could see through the tinted window only enough to make out the shadow of a figure sitting inside the pod. Dust was scattered all around the air from where the pod hit the ground, and smoke was billowing off the pod on all sides from the intense heat generated in atmospheric entry.

Vegita moved in closer, taking lead as he walked to the front of the pod where the door was. Gohan followed with Pan less than half a step behind. Jun took to the air, levitating only a short distance above, while Goten stayed furthest back, squinting his eyes trying to see the occupant inside any clearer.

Smoke erupted from the front of the pod as the door hissed from the seal breaking as part of the process of the door beginning to open. The pressure inside the pod had to equalize with that outside of it to assure a safe release of the passenger. The smoke stretched out and obscured everyone vision for a moment before the hydraulic hum of the door finally pushing outward. The smoke cleared soon enough, and the door opened fairly quickly, pressing against the ground.

Vegita had his arm in front of him still shielding his eyes from the smoke. As it finished clearing Gohan peered his head over Vegita's shoulder to get a better look, and Pan gripped her father's t-shirt as she peered around his arm.

A hand reached out first, clutching the outside of the ship. A white glove covered the fingers, leaving yet another moment before any clues could be gathered. The hand at least had four fingers and a thumb, and many other alien hands seemed to have evolved. Next a single boot poked out, the same style boot that was to be expected from the pod in front of them. The foot was small, almost dainty. It set down on the door as the hand gripped the side of the pod and the occupant leaned out.

A woman's face appeared, with wild and spiked black hair, a scouter with a green eyepiece, and dark eyes. She looked at the entourage in front of her, first to Jun, up in the sky, around to Goten in back, then Pan, Gohan, and lastly her eyes settled on Vegita. She looked at Vegita for a long and silent moment, seeming to examine his features before she finally stepped out.

Gohan was the first to gasp as the tail flicked out behind her before it wrapped itself around her waist. She stopped in front of Vegita, then bent down to one knee and bowed her head.

"Vegita-sama, I come on behalf of my father to ask for the help of you and the other Earth warriors." She kept her head down and tensed, waiting for Vegita's response.


	6. Chapter 6

Vegita almost looked paralyzed for a moment, his eyes locked on the woman's tail. Finally he took a step back and composed himself. "You can't be a Saiya-jin, so what are you?"

She looked up and frowned, "I am a Saiya-jin, why wouldn't I be?"

"Because Kakkoratto, Radditz, Nappa and myself were the last survivors!"

"You were the last people to leave the planet," she corrected with a scowl. "Frieza had elite teams to take out all the other adult teams, but from what we can tell, Freiza assumed that infants sent off world like Kakkoratto were no threat, and would be left on the planets until such time as he would send his own forces to conquer them… Be it the remaining Saiya-jin or the indigenous life, whichever remained…" She stood up, "My birth father was such a Saiya-jin, it took him half his life to conquer his world, then my adoptive father found him, and now, recently, both my natural parents died and our Lord adopted me." She looked saddened, "My parents died to a cult that's been rising up in the Galaxy, it is known as The Unbound, they promote personal freedom and indulgence above all other things, though we don't know what their ultimate goals are. They have been spreading from world to world, converting the natives en masse. And while even a few hundred thousand weaklings are still just weaklings, the leaders are strong, my birth father went beyond Super Saiya-jin, and still he lost to just one of the Priests of The Unbound."

Tears welled up in her face but she fought them back, blinking them away, she looked directly at Vegita. "Please Vegita-sama, your people need you, the small vestiges of the Saiya-jin race my father Ice-sama has been gathering, are in danger of extinction once more."

"Ice-…sama, that doesn't sound like a Saiya-jin name?"

"Ice-sama is only half-Saiya-jin, though my father took a non-Saiya-jin name as well."

"How many Saiya-jin are left in the galaxy," Vegita asked, sincere curiosity edging into his voice, but tempered with sarcastic disbelieve, as such it almost sounded neutral, but his eyes betrayed just enough sincerity.

"Ice-sama over these last decades has found sixteen Saiya-jin who were once infants, and seven more half-Saiya-jin children like himself. There are also a small number of second generation Saiya-jin like myself who have only been born within the last two decades, I'm the oldest at 17. But since The Unbound are everywhere, pushing at all borders of the tatters of the Planet Trade Organization Ice inherited, we haven't been sending out our children, lest they fall to The Unbound and be converted."

Surprisingly- or perhaps not, it was Pan who spoke next, "Inherited from who, Frieza and his family ran the Planet Trade Organization from what I've been told?"

"Frieza's people did, though one Wintera took it and turned it into what it became, and the rest of its people turned their backs, that Wintera was King Kold's ancestor, and King Kold was Ice-sama's father with a Saiya-jin woman he kept prisoner until his death on Earth." The young Saiya-jin frowned, "Ice-sama tells me he thinks he loved her, in his own perverse way, but now Cayenne is old, and it doesn't matter, she wants to die fighting as Saiya-jin will, but Ice-sama wants to make sure it's a fight that will be worthy of her, without just sending her pointlessly to death, such as her fate would be against The Unbound."

Gohan spoke up, "So how does Ice-Sama run this Planet Trade now?"

"Closer to the original, but given the Saiya-jin thirst for battle, we still go out and conquer primitive worlds as well, but only worlds whose indigenous life is savage, without technology of any kind short of the barest tools, such as weapons and fire." She took off her scouter, and tossed is gently back into the ship, "My father also hopes to have you as part of the Organization, as partners, he says having the last of the royal blood back at our side might let us regain some of the image we've lost since Freiza's death. The return of the Saiya-jin to the galaxy would mark a repair to the damage he caused, the return of its Prince, would promise a lasting return of its people." She scoffed, "Ice-sama would tell you this himself, he would seek to bribe you with your choice of planet to restore your people and take your throne." She sucked in a breath, "But as I passed my scanners detected the citadel you're building on the planet above, your throne, your home, will be there won't it?"

Vegita smirked, then in an almost teasing tone he spoke, "How observant." He sighed, "Yes, though I never intended it, this system has become my home. My blood lives here. What I'd come to believe was the last of the Saiya-jin lives on this world, mine and Kakoratto's progeny." Lastly he gave a short chuckle, "Besides, that world up there _is_ our people's world, brought back by Namekian Magic and Tsufruian treachery. _That_ is Planet Vegita."

Her head jerked up, she looked up at the planet above with was only a pale white shadow from this distance, nearly at the base of the horizon.

"Ya' know," Jun pointed out, slowly coming in for a landing, "We haven't gotten your name…"

She looked at him, "I didn't detect you on my scouter?"

Jun scoffed, "You wouldn't my actual power doesn't show on scouters, even on a good day I don't think the numbers would break three digits, but I assure you my power is sufficient to help, and regardless of Vegita's decision I've made mine, I'll go."

Gohan nodded, "I'll help too."

Pan made a determined motion, "As soon as Trunks is better, I'll go too."

Gohan looked back at her, the strong urge to object written plainly on his face, but after a moment he said nothing, and just turned back to the woman.

"Oh what the hell, I'm in," Goten smirked.

"I'm certainly not letting you fight my battles for me- at least not without me at any rate," Vegita smirked.

Gohan put a hand on one side of his face as if to hide what he was about to say from Vegita and with a smirk he spoke in a pretend whisper, "That means he'll go."

Vegita scoffed, "Yes, Bulma can build us a ship big enough for everyone once she's finished building what she needs to heal Trunks." Vegita crossed his arms, "I hope Ice-sama can handle The Unbound on his own for a little while longer at least, we have matters to settle here before we can leave."

"I understand," she bowed, she then turned to Jun, "My name, since you asked, is Califlora, and yours," she asked motioning with a wave of her arm to all persons at large.

"Jun."

"I'm Son Gohan," Gohan bowed, "This is my daughter Pan, and over there is my brother Goten, we're the children of the Saiya-jin Kakkoratto, who was called Son Goku here on Earth."

"My birth father took a Daeon name before he conquered them, he was called Gaav. He had only just begun to teach me to fight before he died at the hands of The Unbound."

"How long had he been a Super Saiya-jin Two?"

"I don't know for certain, I know he became a Super Saiya-jin in order to conquer the Daeohlytes, the people of Daeon that he was sent to as a child. But I don't know when he ascended that, only that Ice-sama said he had."

"The people were that strong," Vegita said in shock, "Why would they have sent an infant to conquer such a people?"

"They didn't know, there were two races living on Daeon, the Daeohlytes, and the Overlords, the Daeohlytes at the time were a weak people, but the Overlords were stronger still, over the course of time, with Gaav's help, they conquered the Overlords, and then he delivered the planet to Ice-sama, which was when he first became aware of other Saiya-jin in the galaxy. Now for almost 30 years Ice-sama has been looking for other Saiya-jin."

"Yet he clearly knew about us before, and didn't seek us out," Vegita pointed out.

Califlora nodded, "He didn't, he thought you might not trust him, he still worries that, but The Unbound are a bigger problem. Ice-sama is stronger than Gaav, so he suspects he could at least beat The Sin Priests one on one, but not all at once, also, there are four even stronger threats than The Sin Priests, there are four lords who claim to be the embodiment of worlds ending."

"If all the excitement is over, I'd like to check back in Trunks," Goten said while glancing at Pan.

"Wait," Califlora called out, "Just one last thing… Otousama thinks I'm not ready to become Super Saiya-jin, I disagree, I want you to teach me," she declared with her hands clenched firmly.

Vegita turned his back to Califlora, "Your father is right."

"Vegita-san," Gohan objected, "She said both her adoptive father and her birth father reached it, I think if anyone would have the potential it would be someone like that."

"Tch," Vegita scoffed, "then you do it, if you're so certain." Vegita stared straight at Gohan, "But if you do- make sure you do it right, no pampering, she's not someone's little princess, she's the daughter of a warrior. Make sure if you train her she reaches Super Saiya-jin or _dies_ trying," he clenched his teeth and one fist in front of him.

Gohan opened his mouth, but the shock passed before he could vocalize it, and then he smiled, "Okay, Vegita-san."

"I'm going back to Capsule Corps, I assume either you or Goten will be with Trunks, so you can let me know when his condition changes," Vegita said to Pan before taking off.

Jun sighed, "Well, I already called the school to tell them I'd be absent today, now what am I supposed to do," he put his arms behind his head and kicked a stray rock.

"I suppose you could help me train Califlora here," Gohan spoke up.

Jun shrugged, "Not sure how, I don't know anything about Super Saiya-jin except you guys can transform into it."

"Well then I can educate you on the matter while I train her," Gohan smirked, lifting into the air, "Come on," he motioned one arm each toward Jun and Califlora then took off.

Califlora paused only long enough to turn around and shut her pod with the push of a button on a remote she tucked back into her armor. Jun tilted his head in a 'why not' motion before he took off and followed them both.

Jun and Califlora followed Gohan back to the main continent, then far out into the wilderness. Up in the mountains was a clearing with five small buildings clustered next to each other. "Videl should be home right now, I should let her and Chichi know that I'll be going once things are settled." He pointed to the most metallic building, "I'll meet you guys in that building in a few minutes, it's a gravity room I had Bulma build for us a couple years ago, I've been meaning to use it more, I guess that'll really bite me in the ass against these Unbound folks," he chuckled, "anyway, it should work the same as the one you and Pan-chan used although it's an older model, get her familiar with as high a gravity as she can handle, then turn it off and I should be ready to come in by then."

Jun nodded, he opened the door and looked inside, as Gohan said it looked nearly identical to the one in Capsule Corporation, at least there weren't any differences that he noticed at a casual glance. He moved out of the way so Califlora could get in.

"You use rooms like this to train for combat on higher gravity planets," she asked.

Jun scoffed, "I think the point is simpler than that, train in high gravity because it makes the workout harder."

"You think," she quirked an eyebrow.

"I haven't been training as long," he smirked, "I aim to fix that."

"So you're like me, just beginning?"

Jun snorted, "No offense, but we're not that alike," he smiled, but didn't look to her as he instead focused on the computer. "What's the highest gravity planet you've been to?"

"Ah," she thought for a moment, "I was on a gas mining station one, the station's lowest levels had crushing atmospheric pressure even with the machines' compensating, and the gravity was," she licked her lips as she played back a memory in her head, "25 times this planets gravity."

"In that case we'll start you at 50; if you can stand we'll make it 70, then keep pushing it by five until you can't stand."

She nodded, "What about you?"

"I can't move in it, but I had the gravity room at Capsule Corps expose me to 1000 gravities, I put it on a fifteen second timer, after that it shut down, but I can move decently at 550, and I plan to start training myself at 600 next time I get the chance."

She gawked at him, her mouth open wide.

"I told you we weren't that alike," now he was smiling at her. "Ready?"

She worked her mouth, trying to push past the shock, "And you say you haven't been training long, what are you?"

"That's a story for another time."

"In that case I'm ready," she braced herself.

Jun keyed the entry to his command. The room began its usual noisy whir as the room got heavier. Fifty Gs and Califlora only winced at the suddenness of it. "Take a step," Jun instructed.

Califlora took a single unsteady step, but seemed to be able to move, however impeded. A moment later the room whirred to life again, tacking on another twenty Gs. Califlora's face was etched in strain, but she kept her footing, yet again taking one uncertain step. With an effort, she forced herself to straighten up; she was shaky, but still holding. Now the room kept a slower, steady whir. The room was adding another 5 Gs every 15 seconds. Each time, she shook from the pressure, her knees wobbled and bent a little further, and each time she took a slow, unsteady step.

Ninety-Five Gs and she stumbled to one knee, but got back up again. One hundred and fifteen and she fell to both knees. Jun paused the function, waiting to see if she could get back up. She pushed with her hands against the floor, struggling to get back to one knee. She grunted with effort, and managed to stand, but she was half bent over and her knees were quivering.

He set the machine to add another five. Once more she fell to her hands and knees. She got to one knee, and then fell forward onto her face.

"You wanna call it?"

She growled, pushing herself back up to her knees at least, "Not- yet…"

Once she got back to her feet, she tried to take a step and nearly fell over again, catching herself with one hand she stayed upright. One Twenty-five, she fell onto her face. Struggling just to get so much as her arms to push herself into something resembling a pushup.

"Not- done," she said through clenched teeth, but no matter what she said, it was no use, she didn't seem to have the strength to get up again.

"I'll give you a minute, if you're not up by then we're calling it," Jun did his best to keep his voice neutral, but he knew she'd take it as a challenge no matter how he said it.

Under threat of ending this she pushed even harder. She managed to get back to hand and knee. She looked up at Jun; her eyes were burning with determination. She put one foot under her, but as soon as she did the other one slipped and her face smashed into the floor again. Her ki flared and she struggled again, but even then all she managed was to get back to her knees. The second she tried to lift any higher, she fell backwards and landed on her back.

Now she looked something like a turtle on its back as she writhed this way and that to get some leverage.

Jun sighed and ended the session. The whirring noise picked up again as gravity went away. Califlora stayed on the ground for a moment, not out of weakness, but a look of sheer annoyance on her face. The door opened and Gohan came in. He keyed in a command on the computer and it told him exactly what just happened without him having to ask Jun. He turned to face Califlora-

"Good, that's about where I expected for the daughter of a Super Saiya-jin. Otousan trained in only 100 gravities, but got badly beaten up against another opponent before the next opponent pushed him to Super Saiya-jin, and Vegita-san trained at 300 gravities before he finally reached it. You're somewhere between, almost exactly where I expected." He turned to face Califlora and smiled.

"Of course," he mused, "gravity training is only one tool for getting the power you need, which is only the first step to Super Saiya-jin."


	7. Chapter 7

"Next I want to watch your combat basics," Gohan looked to Jun, then back at Califlora, "Try to hit Jun, any way you can, fists, energy blasts, even spit if that's what it takes," he turned back to Jun, "Don't make it easy, but don't make it impossible either, you should have a rough idea by now."

Jun snorted, "I dunno about her, but I'd like to avoid resorting to spit…"

"Says the guy whose job just became to antagonize me," she scoffed.

"I suppose," he turned to Gohan, "You want me to fight back any, or just play keep away?"

"I leave it to your call."

Jun tilted his head to one side with a shrug. "Ready when you are," he announced as he turned to face her.

"I take it this room is reinforced," Califlora asked.

"Not enough, if you take it too far the armor will compromise, but it's pretty sturdy, should take anything shy of a planet busting technique," Gohan explained.

"In that case," she let out a scream of power, and a moment later unleashed a barrage of ki balls, none of them with the honest intent to actually hit Jun yet. Jun just scratched his head with a 'you can't be serious' expression-

"Really," Jun shook his head and waited for her to make the obvious next move. He felt her ki balls flying around the room, a moment later they were positioned throughout the gravity chamber.

With a single swipe of her arm they came at Jun from all sides. Smoke was everywhere, flooding the chamber so she couldn't see anything. She was already whooping as if she'd hit- when Gohan let out a throaty noise just to push away all the smoke. Once it was gone a green energy shell was revealed to be shielding Jun as he had a hand behind his head and a look of mildly annoyed boredom.

She froze and gasped. Jun released the barrier, "What, you think you're the first person to think of that?" He shrugged, "Besides, that wouldn't have worked even if I didn't use the barrier, I'd just have blasted a clear space and moved through that…"

Gohan nodded, "No surprise, Piccolo once told me about 17's barrier."

Jun opened his hand and tossed down a small red Ki ball. The ball levitated just above the floor but rolled along as if it were touching it. Califlora looked at it for a moment, expecting it to do something. She frowned, and moved the other way around the circular chamber at Jun, this time using pure speed. She stopped in front of him and began a barrage of swings, fist and foot. Jun casually evaded each of them, every so often parrying one out of either reflex or just to make a point. He made it almost look like a dance, and he had the gall to smile while doing it. This of course enticed Califlora to increase her ferocity, for all the good it seemed to do.

Once Jun felt Califlora was sufficiently engrossed in her frontal assault, the small Hell Ball he'd casually dropped earlier dropped the rest of the way to hit the floor and bounce off it, melting a tiny black spot in the floor it shot out towards Califlora nailing her high on the shoulder. It burnt off a section of her armor and left charred flesh, while also pushing her away and into the sidewall.

"Tch," Gohan winced and put a hand over his face.

Califlora growled, flaring her ki to push herself off the wall- the second she did Jun slammed both fists into her abdomen and shoved her back into the wall.

"Don't flare you're ki unless you need the power, or you need to push something away with the force of it, otherwise, you just blind yourself," he calmly explained as he backed away.

Califlora snarled. She began gathering ki between both hands. Jun stood there and watched as she did it. He tilted his head as if to ask if she was joking, then finally shrugged. She unleashed the power as an extended blast, continuing to pour her power into it. Jun held up one hand and as he did, the arm tensed, but the muscle didn't even bulge as the energy poured straight into his personal stores. This went on for a while until Gohan stepped in between and knocked the blast away.

"You're just feeding him," Gohan explained, "you should have stopped when you saw it wasn't getting through."

Jun flexed his arm; the muscles looked tighter, but not remotely expanded. He worked it for a moment and then shrugged.

"I thought- since he had his arm out he was countering the blast, maybe I could push it back," she looked down.

Gohan sighed, "Even if he had been, he was only using one hand. That should have told you if you were even close he could have more than doubled the power output and completely overtaken your blast. Instead, you failed to notice he was just _absorbing_ your attack."

She looked at Gohan in shock, "How am I supposed to beat a move like that?"

Gohan turned to Jun, "Do you mind a repeat of that move?"

Jun shrugged, "I might have before, but I'm fine with it now…"

Gohan powered energy through one hand, and then unleashed it at Jun, Jun repeating the performance for Califlora just did the same thing, absorbing the energy as it came. Even though neither of them was serious, this time at least, Jun's muscles slowly began to swell, as before, starting with the one bicep, and expanding out. Gohan maintained the blast, but as he did, shot another one to arc around the chamber. Jun quirked an eyebrow and just put his other hand up to absorb that attack, "I thought you were-"

Gohan released a third energy blast from his mouth, nailing Jun in the chest and snapping him back towards the wall, his arms moving in the process and letting Gohan's other attacks through. Given that neither was serious it didn't do more than cause his clothes to smoke, but it got the point across.

Jun picked himself off the wall and brushed off the spot on his chest where Gohan had hit, "Didn't know you could do that," he chuckled, "but then, that was the point, wasn't it."

Gohan nodded, then turned to Califlora, "Your techniques are still raw and basic, any opponent is going to figure out your next move in a matter of minutes and suddenly you won't be able to do anything but play into his hands. Vegita's right, with that kind of technique and power you can't become Super Saiya-jin…. But," he added quickly, "We can fix those problems too."

"Before we leave?"

"I expect so," he turned to Jun again, then back to Califlora, "Yes, without a doubt."

Two days later at the hospital…

Bulma was watching as a pair of orderlies began to move Trunks over to surgery. Bulma was looking at Pan mostly, but glancing over at Goten occasionally.

"I need to be very clear with the both of you. This is a dangerous procedure that will involve stopping Trunks' heart for a time, I've got two of the world's best heart surgeons with me, and if they could they'd do this without me, but as I'm the only one with enough understanding of the device I built, I have to be there to insert it. For all I know, Trunks' ki might diminish or even vanish, but I need the both of you to stay calm, if either of you get upset you could shake the whole building, which could distract one of us, or even make the floor fall out from under us, that _can't_ happen."

Goten nodded, Pan looked down with clenched fists before letting out a small sounding 'OK'. Bulma looked away for a moment, "I contacted Vegita and told him roughly the same thing," she turned back to them, "Now excuse me, I've got to go prep."

"Maybe Vegita-san has the right idea," Goten scowled, "Locked inside that gravity room training, it's so infuriating not being able to do something," he sighed.

Pan nodded, curling herself into one of the chairs. Giru floated over beside her head, "Genki Pan, genki, Bulma fix Trunks, Trunks will be Genki soon."

Back in Gohan's training room, Jun was looking over at Gohan, "Why don't you just give her one of those Senzu things you tried on Trunks?"

Gohan shook his head, "Korin-san only had ten to give me, I used one on Trunks, and I think we may need every one we can when we face The Unbound, they may not play fair and we'll need every edge we can get."

Califlora looked up from the floor, pushing herself up on one arm. She looked like she'd been run through the works, which she pretty much had. After Gohan had Jun test her thoroughly, he took over most of the training and had been running her ragged the whole time.

It was ridiculous, she thought to herself, these people all claimed to be so thoroughly untrained and out of practice, yet she'd trained all her life and couldn't even touch them unless they let her…

She shoved and launched her body up so she could get back to her feet in one motion. It annoyed her warrior spirit at the same time though, that she was learning from a Super Saiya-jin who had all but given up combat, and- whatever Jun was. They hadn't told her anything about the strange boy about her age- or apparently at least- as nothing else about him was as it appeared. He just looked like any other of the weak natives from this planet, and even her scouter had agreed, being so weak it hadn't acknowledged him in the face of the surrounding Saiya-jin, and yet- he had at least enough power to practically ignore her most powerful attacks. Enough speed she couldn't see him at times, and enough strength to make her stay down when he wanted.

And he claimed he was still learning- not even scratching his potential. It was infuriating, he simply couldn't be one of the natives, and yet he wasn't a Saiya-jin either- she'd never heard of a species that powerful, a few individuals, and constructs of various natures. Whatever Jun was he had to be either unique or close to it.

She readied herself into a fighting position again-

To be interrupted by a knock on the door. A voice came over a speaker somewhere, "Anata, I just got a call from Goten, he said Trunks is going into surgery for the device Bulma built."

Gohan walked over to the computer and pushed a button, "Hai, I just need to handle one last thing and I can leave Jun to do the rest." Gohan turned to Jun, "Come outside with me for a moment." Gohan opened the door for Jun and the two went out. Gohan shut the door and left her in there alone.

A little while later Jun came back in without him. Jun didn't say anything at first; he just walked over to the computer and typed in a few commands. A moment later the gravity generators whirred to life. The room got upwards to 150 gravity, which before had been enough to crush Califlora against the floor, now at least she was upright, though she was wincing from the strain.

Califlora opened her mouth to ask a question, but stopped. Jun's aura, what little of it she was beginning to detect, radiated an absolute seriousness that brokered no questions. She took a step in the high gravity, trying to get her body adjusted too it.

Jun sighed and wiped his forehead in annoyance before turning to Califlora and slowly powering up a generic Ki ball in his hand. He looked at her, made it bigger, looked again, shrunk a little, tilted his head and examined her a little more closely, and added just tiniest swell to the attack.

Califlora looked wide eyed at the attack, she wondered if she should be powering some sort of defense, but just as she brought her hands together he rushed forward and jammed the ball into her chest- the ball exploded, the blast knocking her hard against the wall of the chamber. Her sight went greyish red, and she nearly lost consciousness. Her fingers twitched from the slightest effort of moving as Jun calmly, and silently walked over to her, pulled her off the wall, then tossed her against the other side.

She could have sworn she heard a slight 'splat' noise as she hit the wall this time, sliding down onto her knees on the floor. She struggled to so much as look up when Jun walked over again.

He proceeded to pound her senseless for a few minutes, she actually blacked out briefly during the process, but woke up from the force of the next strike. He tossed her down on the ground after a while…

"Ya' know, I wonder," he said at last. "If this is how your father looked before The Unbound killed him?"

Califlora coughed up blood, but struggled to her feet again, she glared daggers at Jun, but knew he was far too powerful for him. He shrugged when she didn't even attack him. He walked over and pinned her to the wall and punched her some more, blood was now clouding her vision.

"I wonder, was he ganged up on, 2 on 1, 5, a thousand…" he emphasized each pause with another blow. "Or maybe," he threw her across the room again, but this time before she impacted, he flew over and caught her, then smashed her face into the floor. "Maybe he just wasn't that strong," he pressed the back of her head such as to rub her face on the floor.

She growled this time, and managed a bit of force to push back against Jun as she tried to get up. Her aura flared but not so much from conscious effort. She let out a feral sort of exclamation, but none of it was enough to move Jun.

"Do you think they left him helpless like this, maybe left him tied to a post or something, just to torment him just a little bit longer?…"

Her aura flickered golden for just a second, then puttered out again, she passed out on the spot and when she woke up again Jun had her propped against the wall while he sat across from her.

When she opened her eyes Jun rose to his feet and kicked her so that she fell back onto her back. "Or maybe I've got this whole thing wrong," he said as if there hadn't been any pause in his dialogue. "Maybe, it wasn't Gaav that was weak, maybe it's Ice." He picked her up by the scruff of the neck. She feebly tried to reach up to hit him, the blow landed ineffectually on his shirt.

He let her go and she just plopped back onto the floor. He wiped his hand over where she'd hit as if wiping off the blood, though that only spread it more.

"That's probably it, Ice, sitting on his throne living off the reflected glory of his dual heritage."

Jun swung around and kicked Califlora into the air. She hit the wall again and started to slide.

"No."

It was small, and barely above a whisper…

"NO."

She pulled herself to her feet-

"NOOOO!" She screamed and her aura exploded, still not golden though, she flew at Jun, punching for all she was worth ineffectually at his chest, "You- Don't KNOW-… ANYTHING!"

He punched her once and she slammed into the far wall in the exact spot she'd been in a moment before.

Jun scoffed, "Do I?"

He powered up another Hell Ball in one hand, tossed it casually underhand at her. It hit her leg and burned, rolling down the leg and burning even more before it hit her foot and exploded its small force. Califlora screamed, this time in pain. "I know this Ice person is afraid."

He walked over and pulled her off the wall again, and again, slammed her into the floor. "I know he's afraid of The Unbound." He smashed her face into the floor again, "I know he's afraid Vegita will take over his throne- why else did he wait until now to send for us?"

He picked up her head to look at her face, then pushed it back into the ground and got up, casually kicking just hard enough to flip her body over. "And I know it's _his_ fault Gaav is dead- and he's afraid you'll find out…"

Califlora screamed again, this time not in pain, her aura flared with enough force to push her off the ground. Energy flared out in all directions becoming a brilliant white light. But when it died out she just fell back onto the floor with a sickeningly wet, plop.

Jun scowled. He gently kicked her side this time, making sure she was still awake. She choked and turned her head to cough up some more blood. Jun shrugged.

"You know what else I know?"

He put his foot under her head and forced her to look up.

"You remember Vegita said make sure you become Super Saiya-jin or die," he tilted his head. "I know you're going to die. Here, now, so weak and useless… just like _both_ your fathers…"

She struggled to move; she turned onto one side and slowly pushed herself up. She managed however shakily, to get to her feet. "Won't… die… here," she said weakly.

"But you already have. Just lie back down and accept it…"

She began summoning her nearly depleted strength again, "Not… without… a- FIGHT!" She struggled just to maintain enough power to stand.

"If that's what you call this."

She swung, her fist touching his face, but he didn't even blink from the force. This time he flared _his_ ki, the sheer force of it knocking her back and off of her feet. "I guess when I'm done here I'll take your pod back home. Maybe bring your head on a pike, nice traditional presentation." He stepped slowly over to her, "Do you think he'll cry, maybe beg for me to spare _his_ life?"

"NO!" she screamed again, and again, this time incoherently. Her aura picked up again, flickered golden for a second, but lost it again.

Jun rolled his eyes and nonchalantly punched her, sending her back against the wall again.


	8. Chapter 8

A/N: Really- not a single review... not even a 'you suck'... just something to let me know you guy are reading besides hits... le sigh... guess this tells me if I want appreciated writing I should stick to Naruto... and I don't even like Naruto anymore .;

End A/N...

Gohan was leaning against the outside of the gravity chamber. He had his eyes closed and was doing everything he could just to not think about what Jun was probably doing to her in the chamber.

"_The key is rage," he told Jun. "Not just anger, absolutely uncontrolled rage." He sighed and turned away from Jun, "It also needs a reason, some sort of focus or trigger." Gohan clenched his fists, "For me, it was thinking about how useless I'd been against Freiza. I know for Tousan it was watching Frieza pick us off, first he shot Piccolo, and then he blew up Krillin." Gohan's fists tightened._

_Jun tilted his head, "So- something like the death of a loved one, or- just the inability to prevent it?"_

"_That's usually what it comes down to, that, focused into one moment, her aura will explode, therein lies the danger, if she calls for too much- I've heard Vegita tell stories about planets that just exploded that a particularly powerful and uncontrolled Saiya-jin had been sent to. The theory is they just reached for too much too fast, and the power consumed everything, the Saiya-jin, his opponent- the entire planet."_

"_Califlora doesn't have that kind of power, maybe if she went all out she could destroy the planet- but even then, it would come down to multiple attacks to destroy the core and cause the planet to collapse," Jun said with an edge of disbelief. _

"_Probably, but still, it'll be safer to only push her to it when she's at her weakest, not to mention it'll make the experience all the more dramatic."_

_Jun flinched, "Why does it have to be me?"_

_Gohan finally faced him again, seriousness in his eyes, "Because you're the unknown. She doesn't know anything about you, and we're always more afraid of that we don't know, it'll also be more believable than if I were to just go in there and suddenly start threatening her and beating her senseless." _

_Jun turned away and crossed his arms, "If you say so."_

"_If you can't do it-"_

"_Don't," Jun snapped. He turned back to Gohan, "I can, hell if I had to I could let my other half do it, still- just be very clear about what you're asking me to do." Jun frowned, "You asked me once why I went to hell." Jun scowled. "I wasn't always separate- my other half and I. We were unified for a while, and I did quite a lot of terrible things then- for the simplest reason that I didn't care.…" Jun looked down, "A lot of those memories will haunt me till the day I decide to stay in hell, and an awful lot of them are about to resurface here and now. You're asking almost as much of me as you are her, you're traumatizing us both, I hope you understand that- really and truly understand that-… and I hope it's worth it…"_

_Jun turned around and walked into the chamber, shutting the door behind him._

Gohan cursed and clenched his fists tight enough to draw blood.

Back in the chamber, Jun was punching Califlora against the wall again. "Weak though your father probably is, at least he should have enough energy for me to bother to drain it…"

He let her fall, the twirled back and smashed his elbow into her back.

"I mean, it probably won't be much, but maybe it'll tide me over for a while."

Jun frowned, then kicked Califlora into the air and with a flip, kicked her back across the room.

"Then again maybe not."

He stepped on her back and ground his heel into her.

"I bet he's so weak that even you're stronger, that's why he sent Gaav, and that's why he wants to send us."

He fired a small and tight beam into the shoulder opposite the one he'd hit earlier with the Hell Ball, blasting a tiny hole through the shoulder.

"Or I've got it," he said in an ah-ha tone. "I know the real reason he sent you to us," he stuck a finger into the hole. "I know why he never taught you how to go Super Saiya-jin."

He picked her up and lifted her over his head, then brought her down onto his knee before letting her plop limply to the floor.

"He sent you here to your death. Just like he sent Gaav to his death against The Unbound…"

"You-" she coughed, and once again struggled to her feet- "YOU LIE!"

Her aura flashed golden, her eyes flickered green, and her hair pushed upwards. But it all lasted just a moment again. She took a deep breath, not having noticed what was happening. Her eyes went dead and once again turned green, her hair pushed upwards slowly this time, her aura picked up again, suddenly with more than she'd had before he'd started beating on her- "YOU LYING MONSTER!"

Her hair hardened and stuck up, her eyes were hollow and green, and her aura stayed golden. She looked down at herself, only now aware of the changes she'd just gone through. She looked at Jun with a dumbfounded expression as if trying to process. And once again her hair fell, her eyes darkened- and she passed out…

Jun took a slow and deep breath. He went out of the chamber. Gohan started to walk over to him, but Jun ignored him and just flew off. Gohan turned to look in the door, he saw blood, splattered in several places on the wall, smeared all over the floor, he saw Califlora lying unconscious, blood in her hair, blood on her clothes, and blood on her skin. Gohan gasped at the grotesqueness of the scene before him. He shook and felt hollow as he fell to his knees and threw up.

Gohan coughed to clear his throat, and then reached into his shirt for the bag of Senzu. He rushed to her side and slid one into her mouth.

A moment later he heard her take a gasping breath.

"I'm sorry," Gohan said as tears welled up in his eyes. Gohan hefted Califlora up and then put one arm over him as he all but dragged her into the house.

"Videl!" he called out for her.

"Hai," she said coming in from another room. Immediately she gasped when she saw Califlora.

"It's not as bad as it looks, but make her comfortable, I need to go clean the Gravity chamber before Chichi decides to and sees it. There should be some of Bulma's armors in that chest over there for you to change her into."

Videl nodded, though she couldn't take her eyes off of Califlora, "What happened," she asked at last.

"What was necessary for her to surpass her limits," Gohan said hollowly, as if he was trying to convince himself as much as her. "She should be Super Saiya-jin now, after I clean the chamber, I'll have to find Jun, but I want to give him some time alone first."

"What happened to Jun?"

Gohan looked away. "I told him to do this."

Videl looked like she'd been hit, "Gohan," she struggled just to fit words together, rattled by sheer disbelief.

Gohan couldn't face her as he headed first to one of the small outside closets, then back into the gravity chamber so he could clean. He started with a small cloth dipped in a strong bleach solution to wipe away around the computer terminals. He took a small tooth brush and dipped in in the solution, then let it stop dripping before he started gently touching the keys.

Videl came in behind him after a while. "I don't pretend to know anything about going Super Saiya-jin, and I probably don't want to, I'm honestly more concerned for you right now," she knelt down beside him and put a comforting hand on his shoulder. He reached back and gently squeezed her hand.

"I have to focus, if I don't focus on something, I'll think about it, and if I think about it, I might start screaming, or crying, or any number of things- and we don't have time," despite what he said there were tears at the edge of his face.

"You have to go save the galaxy," she said with soft tones, but a moderate smirk on her face.

Califlora opened her eyes. She was lying on a couch. She had armor on, but she could immediately tell it wasn't the same one she'd been wearing before. She put a hand to her face and felt dried blood. She gasped, remembering the whole ghastly scene. She put her hands over her eyes and started balling.

She was in lingering pain despite the Senzu healing her, she was horrified by what Jun had done to her, she was disgusted by how pitiful she'd been- and underneath it all she was happy to be a Super Saiya-jin. All of that together was too much and she just cried, curling into a fetal position and sobbing.

Jun flew. He flew at his highest possible speed, no direction in mind; he just needed to feel the wind pushing against his face. He needed to feel. The wind screamed across his face.

That was a dark place. He'd had to cut himself off from his feelings. The last time he'd been that dark, he'd had the luxury of no conscience. Now, fully aware of the ramifications, he'd gone to the farthest depths his other side was capable of- and in fact in some ways this was worse, the unspeakable horrors he'd inflicted those years ago- he'd never known any of those people for longer than it took to kill them, never really had to look into their face, understand the terrors he was inflicting.

A single tear streamed out behind him as he flew on. He felt hollow, and he kept flying, just to feel anything, even more of the disgust that welled up inside.

Pan was sitting with her knees facing in on the hospital chair. Her arms were supporting her head along the back of the chair. She'd been in that position since shortly after Trunks went into surgery. While on the other side of the room, Goten had gotten so bored waiting, he was building a house of cards with Giru watching.

"Danger, Giru, Danger!"

"Shh!" Goten turned and snapped, and as he did, he knocked the house down- three whole decks worth of cards scattered across the floor.

"Giru tried to warn Goten…"

Goten stared back in wide-eyed disbelief.

Pan turned her head first, but they both heard the approach as one. The sound of the hospital bed being brought along the hallway echoed through the hall. Pan leaped up and turned around in one motion, throwing her arms wide in the air as she launched herself at the door. She moved out of the way so the orderlies could bring the bed back into the room.

Trunks was still unconscious, and a blanket was pulled most of the way up his chest, but right at top you could see a square of bandage a little smaller than a fist taped just to one side of his heart. It was just over a minute later when Bulma finally came in. She still had the scrubs on, including the hat, but had discarded the gloves, apron and mask.

"The operation was successful," she said confidently. "I activated the device right after we closed up, his heart rate should steady out any time now, and he'll wake up soon after that I hope."

She looked over at Trunks for a moment, then back at Pan and Goten with a stern expression, "Now I need the two of you to promise me you won't let him go Super Saiya-jin 3. The device will stabilize his heart rate until his heart is strong again, but until then even with the device Super Saiya-jin 3 could cause another heart attack." Bulma sighed and relaxed a little, "I know things might get difficult, but he mustn't- not for a while at least- I don't want to assign a set period, because I know if do then everyone will give it that much time and not a second more… I don't know how long it will take." She sat down across from Goten at the small table, ignoring the cards scattered all over the table, along the floor, and even in the chair she was sitting in. She set her elbows on the table and propped her head in her hands. "It could be years, or even at little as months- but the simple fact is- if he pushes himself too much again, he might not make it next time."

"Anyway," Bulma looked up, "I'll let Vegita know how things went, you let Gohan and the others know, and once Trunks wakes up, I'll start working on the spaceship…"


End file.
